Major Crimes Season 5 Episode 18 Review: Bad Blood
Jack Ori
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Ricky is back!
The last time I saw him, he was extremely annoying. He was judgmental of Rusty, who he was sure was trying to pull a fast one, and tried to talk Sharon out of adopting him.
On Major Crimes Season 5 Episode 18, he wasn't much better.
Sure, he has accepted Rusty as his brother now, but that just meant roping him into his plans to get Andy's marriage annulled for him despite Sharon's strong desire for Andy to handle this himself.
I had very mixed feelings about Ricky's visit, and about Ricky as a character, now that I've seen him twice.
Ricky means well, but he just can't seem to help putting his nose where it's just not wanted.
I want to see Sharon and Andy get married as much as he does, but I want to see them handle their wedding problems themselves without the help of an interfering young adult who really should have better things to do.
Ricky: Okay. So all Andy has to do is prove that he was too emotionally immature to get married to his first wife and they'll grant the annulment.
Rusty: Except for that Mom wants Andy to come up with this idea himself. Why is the church so important to Mom anyway? I mean she goes to Mass a lot, but I don't go to church, do you?
Ricky: I'm an Easter Catholic. Look, it's not about us. It's about Mom. The church was there for her. It was her support system when we were growing up.
On the other hand, Sharon sure had a lot of excuses for why the wedding couldn't move forward!
She hadn't officially announced her engagement to Andy, and she wasn't wearing her ring. And on top of that, she had every excuse in the book for why her marriage couldn't be annulled.
Ricky had taken care of everything without getting his mom's permission, so the only real roadblock left was Andy needing to annul his first marriage too.
As much as I found Ricky annoying, I couldn't help wonder if Sharon was dragging her feet on purpose. She and Andy seem happy, but maybe she's not ready for marriage yet.
Maybe Ricky was right, and his mom was putting on the brakes for no reason. He knows her well, and I guess it's possible he knew his interference was the only way to get her to move forward.
I still don't like it, though. It seemed like he was way too involved, especially after his mom asked him not to be.
Woman: The thing about Mary was that she was tough. And grumpy.
Buzz: No wonder you liked her, sir.
Provenza: I just wish I remembered why.
Meanwhile, the Major Crimes Unit investigated the murder of a former cop who nobody really seemed to like.
The case was interesting enough, but it kind of disturbed me that nobody brought up the possibility that Mary was suffering from dementia.
She had begun shoplifting tiny little items (so petty the cops didn't feel right arresting her and made her return the items), she was taking her neighbors' mail in but not giving it to them, and she had to surrender her driver's license because of erratic driving habits related to her age.
I guess it wasn't very relevant given the murder and its eventual solution, but it sounded to me like Mary was suffering from Alzheimer's or some other type of dementia, and that never occurred to anybody who was involved with her. I wondered if people would have had more sympathy for her if they'd realized that.
Who else thought the son was going to turn out to be the murderer? He kept expressing resentment towards Aunt Mary; he thought it was wrong that his mom spent his college fund money on his elderly aunt, and he made no secret of the fact that he didn't like her.
I was surprised that it turned out to be Wyatt's father instead of him who ended up killing Mary. Wyatt's dad was such a non-entity that I wasn't sure who he was when he was first brought in for questioning.
His motive was questionable, too. He found out that Mary had been stealing their money while secretly getting a pension. I could understand him being upset, but it just didn't feel right that he would murder her over this.
Sykes: How'd it go?
Mark: Great! I won at golf and a judge said that Julio'd be the best guardian ever.
Buzz: Congratulations.
Provenza: You think you've won but you're in it up to your neck, now.
Julio: Don't listen to him. We're gonna be a great family.
Mark: So can I call you Dad now?
Julio: Well technically I'm not your dad.
Mark: But I'm your son, right?
Julio: Technically, you're my ward.
Mark: Why am I your ward? I don't want to be your ward.
Meanwhile, Julio stressed over being at his court appointment on time. I'm thrilled that he is getting a story. I hope that Provenza is right that Julio is up to his neck in trouble because that would mean seeing his story for more than 10 minutes at a time.
Julio: Sir, I want to remind you -
Provenza: Julio, if you remind me about your court appearance one more time, I'm going to arrest you instead of the suspect. Now you will get out in plenty of time to putt-putt your way through the window.
Julio spent most of "Bad Blood" annoying Provenza by constantly reminding him of his meeting. Then he finally went and returned with little Mark, who was far less ecstatic when he found out he couldn't call Julio "Dad."
I was a bit confused about that too. Does Julio expect this arrangement to be temporary? Mark clearly wants to live with him, and he wants to raise Mark, so why not officially adopt him?
While I was as disappointed as Mark was, I thought the reference to ducklings was a cute callback to the beginning of Mark and Julio's relationship, when the only thing they could bond over was "Make Time for Ducklings."
What did you think of "Bad Blood"?
Was I the only one who was surprised by the murderer's identity, or did you also think they just chose someone randomly and tacked the confession scene onto the story? Are you looking forward to more Julio/Mark? Are you as happy as I am that we've managed to avoid any Gus/Rusty scenes for so long?
Weigh in below, and don't forget you can always watch Major Crimes online if you missed anything.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
